Lawmakers Liking SEL in WA State

| By: Committee for Children

In this session, the WA State Legislature is considering a bill that would begin developing SEL standards for K–12 students across the state. The bill, which has broad bipartisan sponsorship and support, would define evidence-based SEL standards in broad terms and establish a work group to define the benchmarks and competencies K–12 students should achieve across all SEL competencies. In February, Committee for Children lobbyist Melanie Smith testified about the bill before the Senate Early Learning and K–12 Committee, which was covered by TVW’s Capitol Record. The committee chair, Senator Steve Litzow (R-Mercer Island), is the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate.